Waka paddling on the Avon, Year 11 PE

From the tumuaki | principal 2023 Term 1 Week 6

A special quality of our community and how we grow that; international visitors come back and we take on the William Pike Challenge - plus need to know dates.

Kia ora tātou (hello to all of us)

Getting back to work this week was a delightful experience, with so many people taking time to reconnect. I’m particularly impressed when students, some very young, have such great social skills and care to approach me, ask how I am, take time to listen and then to talk about their day. This is a real strength of our community and something we should be proud of.

Our Japanese student guests have generally had a great experience this week - with some minor negatives. If all students treated them with the respect they show me they would all be blown away by what a wonderful place Darfield is. Our student leaders have taken this challenge and we’ll be doing work in whānau time on manaakitanga - in this case hospitality, care, welcome, respect - with a focus on growing this great quality of our community and ensuring every visitor feels welcomed and safe. We’re looking forward to hosting more international students and it’s important for our learning and pride as a community that we all make their experience happily memorable.

It was a privilege to host William Pike and very exciting for our students to be able to take on the William Pike Challenge. Thanks to all those families who attended, to Amanda Macpherson and to Pip Deans for their leadership with this.

If you’re a current parent or student you’ll have received an important email about the PPTA strike day next Thursday 16 March: DHS will remain open but only for those students under 14 whose families need them to be supervised (not taught classes although trades will run as normal). Buses will run on the day. The disruption to learning is frustrating and I hope this will be swiftly resolved by the unions and government.

Friday 17th March will be a great fun day - Endeavour Day is about fun outdoor activities loosely designed around sport! Students will dress in house colours and I guarantee it will be a great day for everyone.

Noho ora mai (stay well)

Andy England


Key dates:

See https://darfield.school.nz/calendar/

Thursday 16 March: PPTA strike

Friday 17 March: Endeavour Sports (whole school)

Monday 24 April: staff only day (school closed for instruction for staff learning)

Tuesday 25 April: ANZAC day